10 Apps for Planning a Trip Abroad

The travel bug can strike when you least expect it, burrowing deep into your psyche until you’re desperate to shoot off to a popular destination Rome or Paris—or somewhere more obscure, like Swaziland capital Mbabane. Taking in the sights and sounds of a different culture in a new place is a great way to recharge and unwind (or draw some fresh inspiration), and it’s easier than ever now to sort out the where, what, and how of doing so. If you’ve been thinking about jet-setting off to a faraway land or planning a round-the-world trip, these 10 apps will both help with inspiration and make the logistics easier to manage.

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Planning a Trip Abroad

You’ll want to categorize yourself in any of 19 tribes—like Foodie, Backpacker, or History Buff—to get the most out of Gogobot (Free, iPhone). Its listings of destinations can be sorted according to these preferences and travel styles, and you can check out what similar kinds of travelers thought of the places on your list. A postcard creator adds a bit of fun, too.

Like to travel the well-beaten track? Viator (Free, Universal) helps you find and book tours and activities in more than 1,000 cities all around the world. It’s not just the big mass-tourism options on display, either, with private bookings available to see things like Sao Paolo’s graffiti or Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia. You can also explore an interactive map, read reviews from other travelers, and grab exclusive deals.

Parallel Map (Free, Universal) certainly won’t appeal to everyone, but it’s perfect for those who like to mark possible routes and wander Google Maps Street View before heading to totally new surroundings. You can toggle between Street View, the overhead map, or both at the same time, and save your wanderings—complete with virtual footprints—for future reference.

For those who prefer to travel in style, Jetsetter (Free, iPad) paints a gorgeous picture of where you might go. Stunning hotels, beaches, villas, and sights fill the app, and the slickly detailed sales pitches are balanced against user reviews that pull back a bit of the gloss. The app currently includes hood-by-hood magazine-style guides to New York and London, for some extra ideas.

It’s something of a mystery why offline storage isn’t included in the regular TripAdvisor app, but TripAdvisor Offline City Guides (Free, iPhone) is the more useful option if you’re planning a trip to any of the 92 cities it includes. Its maps don’t always point to the right places, but it’s a great tool for scoping out attractions, nightlife, shopping hotspots, and the like.

TripIt (Free, Universal) holds your itinerary for you, in as much or as little detail as you like. Directions, weather, and automatic itinerary creation (from confirmation emails) are the killer features here, but it’s also helpful just to see what you’ve got in store and to be reminded that certain days are looking thin on activities. A $49-per-year Pro subscription nets you rewards and a handful of bonus features.

Getting a bit more creative in the presentation department, TripRider ($4.99, Universal) aims to be both your travel planner and journal. It lets you build checklists for packing, budgets for estimating costs, and detailed itineraries with maps and other notes. It’s a pleasure to use for planning, and it’s designed to also be your one-stop companion once you get on the road.

Kayak (Free, Universal) is less concerned with helping you plot an itinerary than with finding you places to stay and ways to get there within your budget. You can use it to search and book flights, hotels, taxi pick-up/drop-off, and car rentals, as well as to track flights. A $0.99 Pro version adds airport terminal maps, in case you’re always in a hurry to get to or from your plane.

Chances are that if you’re traveling abroad, you’ll need to get your head around a foreign currency. XE Currency (Free, Universal) has you covered, with easy conversion between any and every currency in the world—always set at the current rate. There are historical charts too, so if you’re pinching pennies, you might like to check whether the current rates are abnormally high or low.

Much of the world speaks English as a second language, but you should still consider picking up some of the local tongue before departure. It’ll impress native speakers, if nothing else. Duolingo (Free, Universal) is one of the best options for learning basic Spanish, German, Portuguese, French, and Italian. It’s fun and easy to use, and it really does help.

Comment

If you're planning a road trip abroad and you want to use your Mac to plan it, I just found out about an app called Road Trip Planner from the Mac App Store:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/road-trip-planner/id805071244?mt=12
It lets you plan a road trip anywhere in the world!